Saturday, July 19, 2014

PAS, NGOs hand over Gaza protest memo to US

Source: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/269202
(18/7/2014)A group of about 1,000 protesters from PAS and 23 Muslim NGOs
today rallied against the violence in Gaza in
front of the United States Embassy in Kuala
Lumpur.
The group, which included many university students, marched from the nearby
Tabung Haji Mosque to the embassy on Jalan Tun Razak after Friday prayers and
urged the US to stop
supporting Israel in its
shelling of Palestinian-occupied Gaza,
which has lasted more than 11 days.
"We will hold you totally responsible, for America
is the No 1 supporter and financier of Israel.
“You shame yourself by aligning to this rogue state of terrorists and we know
you are going down with it," the group stated in a memorandum. A team from
them was later allowed into the embassy to personally hand it over to an
officer.
The two-page memorandum is addressed to the US
Ambassador to Malaysia,
Joseph Y Yun.
Among the backers of the protest were Pertubuhan Ikram Malaysia (Ikram), Gabungan Mahasiswa Islam Malaysia (Gamis) and Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia
(Abim).
They stood united in wanting the US
to know that Malaysians were against Israel and the cruelty being done
to Palestinians, they said.
Khalid Samad: So many people are killed daily
Two opposition MPs were also present. The MP for Shah Alam, Khalid Abdul
Samad, expressed his disappointment with the handling of the Gaza attacks by the US.
“This is not just an issue between Israel
and Palestine.
It is a global issue, with so many people being killed daily,” the PAS
parliamentarian told reporters.Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng, who made a
brief appearance at the gathering, said DAP, including many non-Muslims, also
objected to Israel's
actions.
“We from DAP believe that any sort of cruelty and terrorism towards any human
being is not acceptable. This does not matter if they are Muslims or not. We
are against the war wholeheartedly,” Lim said when addressing the crowd outside
the embassy.
This round of fighting between Israel
and Palestine began on July 8, with Israel bombarding the Gaza
strip while Hamas militants retaliated by launching rockets at Israel. Israel's
attack was triggered by the killing of three Jewish students last month,
according to a Reuters report. After 10 days of shelling Gaza,
with more than 1,300 rockets fired, at least 221 Palestinians, including many
civilians, were killed.